Vikings 17 vs. 9 Bears summary: game stats, score, and highlights | Week 15 NFL
There is never a shortage of bad blood when it comes to NFC North rivalries, and Monday Night’s Vikings-Bears game fit the billing and then some. Minnesota left Chicago with the win after an ugly game at Soldier field in which the visitors gained less than 200 yards in their 17-9 victory.
Bears COVID issues added to list of Chicago problems
Minnesota came into the night looking to keep pace with the rest of the pack in the NFC, while the Bears were just looking to turn around a recent stretch that saw them win just one of their previous eight games.
The Bears came into the game with more than a dozen players and three coordinators unavailable after being put on the Reserve/COVID list. Chicago’s entire secondary was forced to miss the game, but that didn’t stop the defense from playing one of their best games of the season.
In yet another frustrating night for the Bears fans, they watched their team turn the ball over three times, while committing four personal fouls many of which extended Minnesota drives on failed third down conversions. The Bears did almost everything possible to lose the game and were still in the game until late in the fourth quarter.
Vikings capitalize on Bears' early mistakes
The Vikings jumped out of the gate with a first quarter touchdown when Kirk Cousins hit Justin Jefferson in the corner of the endzone for a 12 yard touchdown reception. Minnesota’s defense forced a fumble on the next possession which led to the Vikings extending the lead to 10-0 in the second quarter.
Despite a disappointing first half in which the Bears fumbled twice and had a field goal blocked they were still within a touchdown going into half time after getting a Cairo Santos field goal to tighten the score to 10-3.
After stopping the Bears on the first possession of the third quarter, Cousins drove the Vikings down the field on their first drive of the second half and expanded the lead to 17-3 with a 7 yard touchdown pass to Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
Vikings went a quarter without a first down
That would be the last time the Vikings would be able to construct a drive of more than three plays until late in the fourth quarter. The Bears couldn’t capitalize on Minnesota’s 16 minute span with out first down even though they were moving the ball well against the Vikings defense.
One of the Bears many problems over the course of the night was their inability to score once they reached the redzone. The went just 1 for 5 inside the 20, with their only scored coming on the final play of the game.
Before their last gasp touchdown the Bears turned it over on downs on three straight possessions, with two of those drives ending inside the Minnesota 20 yard line.
Cousins with career low night in win
Kirk Cousins ended the night with a career low 87 yards on 12/24 passing but did have two touchdowns with one pick, while Dalvin Cook had 89 yards on 28 carries.
It was the Bears deficiencies in the redone and the Vikings defense that made the difference. They forced three turnovers, and held the Bears three times on fourth down in the second half to secure the victory that will keep them in the race in the NFC Wild Card race.
Justin Fields has 285 yards and a late touchdown, but it didn’t keep the Bears from losing their eighth game in the last nine and some serous question marks are starting to surround the future of head coach Matt Nagy.
Nothing was going right for the Bears who fumbled the punt to start the 4th quarter, but the Vikings couldn't come up with points after the turnover.
Ihmir Smith-Marsette was wide open in the endzone and it seemed like the Vikings were going to pull away after the score, but then they went over a quarter without a first down.
Did Vikings win or Bears lose tonight's game?
Minnesota had a grand total of 193 yard of offense, but still won the game comfortably after the Bears' self inflicted mistakes, and inablility to score in the redzone
VIKINGS WIN!!!
Horstead makes the catch in the endzone and the Bears finally get a touchdown on the last second of the game but the Vikings have the last laugh as they win 17-9
Byrd up the sideline on a pass in the flat and he gets out of bounds with a second left.
Fields to Graham with 6 seconds left and the last play will merely be a formality.
Fields hits Kmet and the Bears are over midfield.
Fields to Herbert up the middle for a gain of 17 and the Bears are in the hurry up
So the Bears will start the their drive from the 25 after the touchback
We are at the Two Minute Warning with the Vikings ready to punt on 4th down.
Cousins hits Jefferson on the roll out and that's the Vikings first first down since 5:51 in the third quarter. They went over 15 game minutes without moving the chains.
The Vikings, who lead by 14 mind you, have 175 yards of total offense.
TURNOVER ON DOWNS!!!
Fields goes to Byrd this time on the out route, but Byrd dropped it and the Bears turn it over on downs yet again.
Fields overthrows Mooney in the endzone on 3rd and 4 and the Bears will go for it on 4th down.
5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter
Fields to Mooney on the sideline, and this time he gets both feet down for the 13 yard gain.
Fields tucks and runs for the first time in a long time, picks up 23 and the Bears are at the MIN 33.
Again, the Bears are moving. The Question is how far can they go?
Another 3 and out for the Vikings and the Bears defense does it's job once again.
The Bears will take over from their own 42 with 6:10 to go in the 4th.
Vikings take over from their own 9 yard line with 8:30 left in the game. Minnesota will be looking to run the ball and keep the clock running.
After review the ruling on the field stands. The pass was incomplete as Mooney juggled the catch
TURNOVER ON DOWNS!!!
Fields looking for Mooney in the corner of the endzone, but he is ruled out of bounds after just getting one foot in.
Turnover on down for the moment, but they might want to take another look at that.
Graham had the TD in hands, but he couldn't bring it down as Peterson was able to knock it out.
4th and Goal coming up and the Bears will go for it.
Fields picks up a first down with his legs and gets crushed by a late hit by Kendricks and he gets ejected.
1st and 10 from the MIN 7.
Moving the ball hasn't been the problem for the Bears, it's been scoring in the red zone that has been thier nightmare
Fields hits Kmet for 23 yards down the middle of the field and the Bears are moving the rock.
Fields back to back big throws, this time to Byrd for 13.
The Bears finally catch a break as the Vikings are called with a personal foul Unnecessary roughness call brings a 1st and 10 for Chicago out to the 18
Cousins is dropped for the 4th time tonight and that will bring up 4th down.
The Vikings will punt instead of kicking a 50+ yard field goal. Chicago ball inside the 10 with 12:21 to go in the 4th quarter.
Three penalties and four personal fouls for Chicago tonight. You can start to understand why the Bears have lost seven of their last eight.
MUFFED PUNT!!!
ANOTHER MISTAKE BY THE BEARS!!!
Byrd muffs the punt and the Vikings recover on the CHI 37
The Bears defense comes up with another stop to start the fourth quarter, and Fields and the offense will try once more to get some points.
We are headed to the fourth quarter with the Vikings facing 3rd and 9 up by a couple of touchdowns.
TURNOVER ON DOWNS!!!
The Bears blow it again on the offensive end after a special teams play gave them great field position.
Fields and Chicago go for it on 4th down in what seemed to be a rushed play and Fields is sacked with no one to throw to on the roll out. Looked like a busted play from the beginning.
Big two plays for the Bears, who stopped Cousins' run on 3rd down, upon further review he was short of the 1st down after the refs moved the chains, and then a deflected punt by Williams goes just 18 yards.
1st and 10 CHI from the MIN 30
After the penalty the Bears go 3 and out, and a huge punt that goes 72 yards after the bounce. MIN will take over at their own 2 with 4:02 to go in the 3rd quarter.
I sound like a broken record, but another personal foul penalty this time against Jenkins for unsportsmanlike conduct. 2nd and 22 coming up.
That's their fourth personal foul of the season.
TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS!!!
Minnesota finally punish the Bears after the two painful penalties that extended the drive. Smith-Marsette was wide open in the endzone for the 7 yard TD reception.
Vikings lead 17-3 with under 6 to go in the 3rd quarter.
Cook bottled up in the backfield on 3rd and 3 from the CHI 28 yard line, but another costly penalty on the Bears this time it's Gipson with the Unnecessary Roughness call after the play.
1st and 10 from the 15 for the Vikings
Nwangwu picks up 19 yards after the deflating penalty on the Bears. This could be the Vikings chance to pull away from Chicago.
Another tough call against the Bears, this time it's on Tabor for an illegal low block on a lineman, but he went low to make the tackle, which he ended up doing.
Devastating flag on 3rd and 17, that brings up 1st and 10 from the MIN 35.
Fields got dropped in the backfield for a loss of 14 yards and that brought the drive to a stad still.
MIN will start from their 23 after the punt.
Chicago have to be more efficent in this second half. They have no problems moving the ball in the first two quarters, but could only come up with three points. If it hasn't been apparent enough, the Bears are one of the worst red zone teams in the league.
We are back in play in Chicago with the Bears starting the third quarter with the ball trailing by a touchdown.
Kirk Cousins have just 60 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT, while Fields is 10/12 for 93 yards, but has lost a fumble.
Cook has 44 yards on 10 rushes, while Montgomery has 45 on 11 carries.
We are at halftime from Soldier Field with the Vikings leading 10-3.
The Bears are still in this game despite two fumbles and a blocked field goal.
BLOCKED FIELD GOAL!!!
CHI goes 3 and out and they have to settle for the field goal.
Santos' kick from 49 yards is blocked by Tomlinson and the Bears come up empty handed after the pick.
INTERCEPTION!!!
After the near fumble, Cousins is picked off by Bush who returns the interception 26 yards to the CHI 39.
Bears have two timeouts with 49 seconds on the clock.
Cousins was stripped in the backfield but it was recovered by MIN's Derrisaw.
FIELD GOAL BEARS!!!
The Bears drive comes to a halt after another sloppy red zone trip.
Santos drills the 34 yard field goal to put the Bears on the board. MIN leads 10-3 with 1:33 to go in the half.
Fields almost coughed up the ball after getting sacked on a screen play. You don't see many sacks on teams trying to run a screen play.
2nd and 24 coming up with 1:48 to go in the half.
What a back shoulder catch from Montgomery on 4th and 1 and the Bears move the chains looking for their first score of the game as we hit the Two Minute Warning
Fields gets the Bears down to the MIN 30 after an 8 yard gain, and they are moving the ball against the Vikings, they just have to hold on to the ball and stop the self inflicted wounds
Montgomery with a large chunk on a run up the gut, making amends for his fumble with a 16 yard gain.
MIN goes 3 and out after the fumble recovery, and the Bears will start their drive from their 34 looking to get back into scoring position.
Vikings are up 10-0 with 7:28 in the second quarter.
FUMBLE!!!
After review you can see Richardson made the strip and the recovery and the Vikings will take over from their 12 after the CHI turnover.
Second fumble of the game for Chicago already.
Montgomery ran right and picked up 3, and it seemed like nothing was out of the ordinary, but the Vikings will challenge to see if the ball came out before he was down by contact.
The Bears pick up another 1st down on 3rd and 4. Chicago are on the MIN 13 and the Bears need 7 on this trip down the field.
Fields hits Mooney on the roll out and the Bears are in Vikings territory for the first time tonight.
FIELD GOAL VIKINGS!!!
The Bears hold the Vikings after a Quinn sack on Cousins bringing up 4th down, and the Vikings settle for a field goal.
Joseph's 37 yard field goal is good to stretch the lead to 10-0
A flag was thrown on Bears coach Nagy in the quarter change after protesting the flag on Bush which will bring the Vikings to the CHI 12.
We are at the end of the first quarter with Minnesota up 7-0 and looking to double the lead to start the second quarter.
Conklin couldn't hang on the ball after getting hit by Bush, and a questionable Unnecessary Roughness penalty is called on Bush which will give the Vikings 1st and 10 from the CHI 35
FUMBLE!!!
Fields fumbles on his first rushing attempt of the night! Dantzler knocked it out of his hands, and Barr recovered it on the MIN 47.
Just what the Bears didn't need after building a bit of a drive following the Vikings TD
Montgomery picks up the first first down of the game for the Bears, and Chicago need to establish the run early on. Fields is not going to win you games on his own yet, Montgomery is going to be key tonight.
TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS!!!
Cousins drops a dime into the corner of the endzone for Jefferson for the 12 yard TD pass!!!
That's the first time we have seen the battered Bears secondary exposed and it cost them 7 points.
MIN lead 7-0 with 5 minutes to go in the first quarter.
There's Jefferson with his first big gain of the night. He picks up 18 and moves the Vikes into Bears territory
The Bears might extremely short handed coming into tonight, but don't forget this is a divisional rivalry and Chicago has a chance to hurt the Vikings playoff chances.
There has already been some hard hitting early on tonight, and the Bears are giving an early warning that they will not be a push over tonight.
The Bears go 3 and out after the holding penalty.
The Bears aren't a good enough offensive team to shoot themselves in the foot and be able to dig themselves out of a hole. They need to be disciplined when they have possession
Montgomery starts the drive off with a 10 yard run, but a hold on Jenkins will have the Bears starting this possession on the ropes.
The Bears get a stop to start the game after Cousins' deep pass to Conklin is incomplete.
The Bears and Justin Fields will start their night, and what version of Fields will we get tonight? He has been great in a couple games, and he has really struggled in others.
MIN moves the chains for the first time with a short out route from Cousins to Osborn.
Expect some soft coverage from the Bears make shift secondary. They don't want to get beat deep all night long
Kirk Cousins and his second best TD/INT ratio in the league will lead the Vikings down the field first.
He has 27 TDs and 5 INTs, trailing only Aaron Rodgers
We are underway from Soldier Field!!! The Vikings will start the game with the ball after the Bears win the toss and differ
The Bears entire starting secondary is out with COVID, how will the back ups be able to contain Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins?
According to Bet365.com the Vikings are 7 point favorites on the road with the Over/Under set at 47.5
We are 10 minutes away from kickoff from Soldier Field!!
The Cleveland Browns have just taken the late lead against the Las Vegas Raiders in the early game.
COVID postponing games around the league
This is not one of three games that were postponed this weekend due to the resurgence of COVID problems in the NFL. The new Omicron varient is sweeping through the league, and has hit the Bears harder than any team. They have more than a dozen players and three coaches on the Reserve/COVID list, but this game was scheduled to be the last Monday Night game before Christmas
Bears not mathematically eliminated...yet
Somehow the Bears (4-9) are still in the mix for the Wild Card in the NFC, but they are playing for their lives tonight against their neighbors to the North. While incredibly unlikely, they could keep their hopes alive for another week with a win tonight.
Bears have lost seven of last eight
The Bears are coming off a 45-30 loss to their division rival, the Green Bay Packers. The loss was Chicago’s seventh in their last eight with the only win since early October coming against the Detroti Lions in a 16-14 contest on Thanksgiving.
Cook comes off injury, puts up +200
Dalvin Cook exploded for 205 yards on that Thursday night after questions surrounded his pregame status. The Steelers couldn’t stop Cook all night as Kirk Cousins had a light night’s work. Cousins went for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Week 14 win.
Vikings bounce back after Lions loss
Minnesota is coming off of a 36-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers after beating beaten by the Lions for Detroits first win of the season. They responded to that let down with a huge away win in Pittsburgh, jumping out to a 29-0 lead on the Steelers before giving up 28 points in the final 17 minutes of the game.
Minnesota in Wild Card mix
Hello everyone and welcome to Soldier Field The NFC North may have been clinched last night when the Green Bay Packers beat the Baltimore Ravens, but the Minnesota Vikings are still in position for a Wild Card spot. The same can’t be said for the Chicago Bears who have lost seven of their last eight games.
Vikings vs. Bears
It’s a Monday Night divisional showdown in the NFC North as the Minnesota Vikings travel to Chicago to take on the Bears looking for a stay relevant in the playoff picture. AS English will have you covered all night with live stats, scores, analysis and highlights of tonight’s primetime